Men's underwear generally takes the form of long drawers or shorts. Shorts may be either boxer type which are normally cut from woven fabric and sewn to the desired configuration, and briefs which are generally made from knitted fabric so as to be form-fitting. Briefs may be either cut from flat fabric and sewn together to form the desired configuration or formed from knitted tubular fabric. Drawers are normally formed from knitted tubular fabric.
Men's underwear requires the presence of a fly front and fly fronts have traditionally been fabricated by making the garment in multiple pieces and assembling the pieces so as to provide the desired fly construction. Prior attempts to avoid the cutting and sewing operations have produced fly fronts which tend to gap open or which have presented difficulties in providing access through the fly front for urinating and the like.